Circular-knitting machine



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CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE.

N0.'398,145 Patented Feb. 19, 18:89.

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G. H. GILBERT.

CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE.

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G. H. GILBERT.

GIRGULAR KNITTING MACHINE.

Patented Feb. 19,1889.

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UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE.

GEORGE H. GILBERT, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

CIRCULAR-KNITTING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 398,145, dated February 19, 1889.

Application filed January 3, 1889- Serial No. 295,284 (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE I-I. GILBERT, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Circular-Knitting Machines, of which the following is a specifition.

My invention relates to that class of knitting-machines which are used for the production of knitted tubes with pockets or protu berances thereon to form the heels or toes of stocking-blanks, the objects of my invention being to provide for the rapid formation of the continuous tube in machines of this class and to permit the use of two or more colors in said tube.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a knitting-machine constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the cam-rings of the same on the line 1 2, Fig. 1,1ooking in the direction of the arrow 1. Fig. 3 is a similar section looking in the direction of the arrow 2, Fig. 1. Figs. 4 and 5 are perspective views of the needles employed in the machine. Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating the disposition of said needles on the needle-cylinder, and Fig. '7 is a diagram illustrating one form of gearing for driving the cam-rings of the machine.

A is the fixed frame of the machine,in suitable bearings, in which are free to turn an upper cam-ring, B, and a lower cam-ring, D, the upper ring being driven by a bevel-pinion, a, 011 a shaft, a, which should be provided with suitable means for imparting a rotating move- 'ment thereto, the ring D being driven by a bevel-wheel, b, on a shaft, 17', which should be provided with means whereby it can be rocked or receive a movement of partial rotation.

The needle-cylind er F extends down through the cam-rings B and D, and is provided with needles having two different styles of needlejacks, G and II, each jack, however, having struck up from it a spring-finger, a", which is bent laterally beyond the jack, so as to have a bearing against a side wall of the slot in which said jack is reciprocated, each needle thereby having an inherent tendency to remain in the position to which it has been adj usted until it is removed therefrom by hand or by the action of one of the cams. Some of the n eedles say about one-halfhave jacks G with single bits, (Z, while the others have jacks H with two bits, cl e, the disposition of the needles being that represented in Fig. 6.

The cam-ring B of the machine has at one side a series of cams, J, and the upper bits, (I, of all the needle-jacks are in position to be acted upon by these cams, which, however, do not extend quite halfway around the ring, the other half being blank, so that around this half of the cylinder the cams J exercise no control over the needles when the camring B is stationary. The needles having jacks with bits 6 are under the control of cams K, carried by the upper portion of the cam-ring D. hen the cam-ring B is being operated, the cam-ring D is stationary, and is adjusted on that side of the needle-cylinder having needles with short jacks G, the bits e of the jacks H being free from engagement with the cams. (See Fig. 1.) The needles are therefore controlled entirely by the cams J of the ring B, and the machine works in. a manner similar to an ordinary circular-knitting machine having a number of feeds arranged around one-half of the head. WVhen it is desired to form a protuberance upon the tube, however, the ring B is thrown out of action, and is adjusted so that its cams are on that side of the needle-cylinder having needles with jacks G. The ring D is then reciprocated, so as to carry its cams K around the other half of the cylinder, so that one half of the needles-that is to say, the half having jacks 11-- will be under the control of the cams K and stitches will be formed on this half only of the needles.

To form a pocket or bag upon the tube, it is necessary that the outer needles of the set shall be thrown out of action in succession and then thrown into action again in reverse order. This may be effected by raising the needles successively by hand, so as to carry their bits 8 above the cams K, and then lowering them into action again successively by hand, or the raising and lowering of the needles may be effected by any suitable automatically-operating devices.

I do not limit myself to any specific mechanism for operating the shafts ct and b from a single driving-shaft; but in Fig. 7 I have shown one form of gearing which may be adopted.

The shaft (0 has a pulley, t, which is connected by a belt, '21, to a pulley, i, loose on the driving-shaft \V. Loose on said shaft is also a spur-wheel, r,which gears into a spur-wheel, 0, having a crank-pimvr, connected-by a rod, '10, to a pin on a large wheel or segment, g, which gears into a spur-wheel, 7 on the shaft b,the crank-wheel n and segment 3; being so proportioned that a vibrating movement only will be imp: rted to the latter.

Sliding on the shaft- \V is a clutch-sleeve,

Y, which is splined to the shaft and can be caused to engage either with the clutch-face 1 on the pulley i or with a clutchace upon the spur-wheel r, or can be moved to an intermediate position tree from engagement with either of said clutch-faces.

I claim as my inventionl. The combination of the two cam-rings,

bined two cam-rings, one above the other, a needle-cylinder having needles, all of which have bits engaging with the cams of one ring, a portion only of the needles having secondary bits engaging with the cams of the other ring and being movable into and out of range of said cams, mechanism for rotating the camring which controls all of the needles, and mechanism for reciprocating the cam-ring which controls only a portion of the needles, all substantially as specified.

3. The combination of the needle-cylinder and its needles, a cam ring having cams whereby each needle is operated two or more times on each rotation of said ring, a supplementary cam-ring whereby certain of the nee-. dles are operated once on each reciprocation of said ring, and devices for rotating the main canrring and reciproeatingthe supplementary one above the other, with a needle-cylinder having needles, all of which have bits engaging with the cams of one ring, a portion only of the needles having secondary bits engaging with the cams of the other ring, and these latter needles being movable in the cylinder, whereby their secondary bits can be moved into and out of range of the operating-cams therefor, all substantially as specified.

2. A lmitting-maehine in which are comeain-ring, the needles being movable in the cylinder independently of the supplementary cams, whereby they may be removed from and restored to the influence of said cams, all substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEO. ll. GILBERT.

itnesscs:

WILLIAM D. CONNER, HARRY SMITH. 

